2026 Nebraska Volleyball Position Previews: Middle Blocker

Nebraska volleyball is back and gearing up for the 2026 season. The Huskers will head into year two under Dani Busboom Kelly ranked No.1 in the AVCA and looking to put on a show every time they take the court.

To get you ready for the season, Hail Varsity is going through the deep and talented roster position by position, highlighting the returning stars and up-and-comers alike that will make an impact this season. After starting with the setters, we now move up front to the middle blockers.

Andi Jackson

6-foot-3 Senior; Brighton, Colo. (Brighton)

The already highly efficient Jackson took another leap in overall production as a junior, earning AVCA Middle Blocker of the Year in the process. Was also a first-team AVCA All-American, an AVCA All-Region Team member and an All-Big Ten first teamer, continuing to add to her already decorated and lengthy resume.

Jackson averaged 2.74 kills per set on .467 hitting, leading the nation in hitting efficiency and slotting in third on Nebraska’s all-time chart. In Big Ten play alone, she hit .559, which shattered the previous record on .541 by Penn State’s Arielle Watson in 2008. Jackson’s career mark of .437 currently ranks first in program history and first among all active players.

“I feel like watching her play is a very unique thing,” Manaia Ogbechie said of Jackson. “She’s so athletic, and she has the ability to almost float. You could say it’s her jumping ability, her ability to get up really high and elevate, but I actually feel like she has very good vision, so she has the ability to get up there, wait, to look around and see what’s open, and to execute from there. So I feel like having that vision has been something that I’ve learned from her, definitely.”

In addition to her hitting efficiency, Jackson averaged 1.12 blocks per set and served 16 aces. The serve is a work in progress according to her own coach at Big Ten Media Day, but Jackson showed the highs and lows of it with two aces and three errors in the Red-White Scrimmage. However, continuing to take strides as a blocker is the more pressing issue as Jackson continues to round out her game.

“Just constantly working on my eye work, my reaction time, and then where my hands are,” Jackson said of how she’s working on her blocking. “I think one of my issues is I move as one whole object, whereas I don’t really let my hands do their own thing. So just continuing to have good hands, good eye work, and staying calm. I like to guess a lot, and so that’s my kryptonite. I get so excited. I just make moves before I even know where the setter’s setting the ball, because sometimes I think I’m too smart. So just being patient and having good hands.”

Jackson was an AVCA Player of the Year semifinalist a year ago and found her way onto the preseason watch list for the award this season as well. She was also a unanimous preseason All-Big Ten pick after back-to-back first-team honors.

Manaia Ogbechie

6-foot-3 Sophomore; Santa Rosa Valley, Calif. (Oaks Christian)

Rebekah Allick’s departure leaves a big void in the lineup, but Busboom Kelly has three talented underclassmen ready to fill the spot. The most likely candidate is the one who served as Nebraska’s third middle a season ago in Ogbechie.

As a freshman, Ogbechie made the most of her opportunities, averaging 2.30 kills per set on a blistering .529 hitting and 1.11 blocks per set in 16 appearances, including three starts. Teammates have raved about the progress Ogbechie has made, which she put on display with 13 blocks in the Red-White Scrimmage.

Jackson highlighted Ogbechie’s volleyball IQ as a reason she’s been so successful so early in her career.

“Obviously, every team that you’re on is different, and everyone kind of has their own systems,” Jackson said. “When you come in as a freshman, especially as a middle, you are right in the thick of it, and it’s hard to adjust to what the ‘bero likes to do, what does the setter like to do, all those things, and how our system works, and so it can be very intimidating when you come in at first. But I feel like Manaia, this season especially, is just so fluid with everyone’s system, and she’s connected with the setters really well, and just the small frantic plays, she’s on that. She just looks like so in with the systems, and I think everyone does, honestly.

“Everyone’s just meshing so well, so it can feel intimidating when you’re a freshman coming into a new group, new voices, but she’s, I would say, there, and I mean Manaia is just a beast. Her attacking’s been great, her blocking’s great. She’s good. She’s going to do great.”

While Ogbechie wasn’t a full-time starter, she did gain experience on the biggest stage. With Andi Jackson struggling against Texas A&M in the Regional Finals, Busboom Kelly called Ogbechie’s number three times before sticking with her in the lineup for the entire fifth set. The Huskers fell, but Ogbechie totaled five kills and three blocks while providing a momentary spark in the Huskers’ lone loss. That experience should serve her well moving forward in her career.

“I believe that that’s probably one of the hardest situations to play in, and it probably can’t get worse than that,” Ogbechie said. “So I hope I know going forward that I’m going to be OK. If I can survive that, I can I can survive a lot worse.”

Kenna Cogill

6-foot-4 Sophomore; Gilbert, Ariz. (Perry)

Cogill was the first high school recruit to commit to Busboom Kelly as Nebraska’s head coach as she flipped her commitment from Oregon in February (following then-Oregon coach Matt Ulmer’s departure for Kansas). She spent her first year in the program learning and contributing in practice as a redshirt, though with the eligibility model changing Nebraska will list her as a sophomore this season.

Cogill put her season of development on display in the spring, leading Nebraska’s middles in kills (16 total, 2.67 per set) while terminating at a .500 clip and recording 1.0 block per set. Like most of Nebraska’s attackers, Cogill struggled offensively in the Red-White Scrimmage, but she also recorded eight blocks, the second-highest total in the match.

Cogill also drew praise from one of Nebraska’s best defenders who called her one of the hardest attackers to dig in practice.

“I think Kenna is pretty hard to dig,” Laney Choboy said. “I don’t know, she hits it really, really hard. She has a really nice arm that can change directions, and she doesn’t really show which direction she’s going to hit it. She’s also really smart. She can go high. She can hit it straight down if she doesn’t have a block up. She’s pretty hard to dig.”

Keoni Williams

6-foot-4 Freshman; Fort Worth, Texas (Eagle Mountain)

The lone newcomer to the group, Williams was a top-10 recruit in the 2026 class (No. 8 by PrepDig.com and No. 10 by PrepVolleyball.com). She led Eagle Mountain to the Texas 4A Division 2 state title as a senior, totaling 13 kills on .571 hitting in the championship match, before joining the Huskers for the spring.

This summer, she gained valuable experience alongside teammates Ogbechie and Campbell Flynn while playing with the USA Volleyball U21 National Team that won gold at the Pan American Cup in July.

“On top of on top of being a fantastic personality — she’s hilarious, she gets us all laughing all the time — she’s also a very solid, very physical player, both offensively and defensively,” Ogbechie said. “She’s a stud, really.”

Whether Jackson sticks around for her fifth year or this is it for her in a Husker uniform, she believes the future of the middle blocker group at Nebraska is bright based on what she’s seen from all three underclassmen.

“We have a really good group,” Jackson said. “Kenna, Manaia and Ke, they’re so talented, and I’m so excited for you guys to get to witness their talent when they display it this season … I’ve seen them from the spring until now, they’ve made huge strides, and they were already great to begin with. But now that we’re here and they’ve had some time in the Husker gym, they’re just completely different players in the best way possible. They are so physical and so talented, and they’re going to do great.”

Final Word

“We’ve got to have the best middle crew in the country, just from Andi, Manaia, Keoni and Kenna, just so, so good,” Busboom Kelly said. “There are days that you could even take Andi out of it — the middle blocker of the year last year — and we still would have the best middles in the country, in my opinion. It’s just really fun to watch those four battle it out, no matter where you put them and who you put against each other.”

“That makes me feel supported, honestly,” Ogbechie said of Busboom Kelly’s praise. “I feel like Dani does a really good job supporting every single one in our group. We have a very deep roster, and you can really see that, and I feel like having a coach that acknowledges that and appreciates that as well has been a really big part of our success.”